The ECOSEARCHERS project aims at developing efficient, eco-sustainable & cost-effective supercritical CO2 (sCO2) for energy storage through Power-to-Heat-to-Power concept, potentially integrated with Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) application. The project will address small/mid-size sCO2 cycles in the 1-10MWe power range, tailoring suitable radial turbomachinery solutions and addressing innovative concepts for the small-scale application (<1 MW) through bladeless machinery, investigated both at theoretical and experimental levels.
The project undertakes a two-fold approach: system level analysis (eco-design key indicators and thermo-economic performance optimisation) as well as turbomachinery design/optimization and laboratory testing. The cycles will target energy storage services at industrial scale through spinning-reserve capable systems, based on rotating machinery, complementing electrochemical-based devices at an equivalent Round-Trip Efficiency (RTE>75%) and with higher sustainability (no use of rare or dangerous/poisoning raw materials). Furthermore, the project will investigate novel radial turbomachinery specifically conceived for the storage system and, for the first time, the use of innovative bladeless turbomachinery in such sCO2 reversible plants, which may solve integration and cost-effectiveness issues especially for the small power range, tackling known challenges related to the low specific volume of the CO2 in the high-pressure sections.
TPG role
Project coordinator. The research activities conceived to achieve such objectives encompass both eco-design and thermo-economic optimisation of plant layouts as well as advanced turbomachinery design and laboratory-scale experimental validation, leveraging on existing facilities and prototypes, including in particular a bladeless expander for CO2 .